At the 1960 Rome Olympics, Peter Bos and Kraft Schepke faced each other as rivals in the rowing competition. However, what began as an intense sporting rivalry between two men from countries that had been enemies in World War II, turned into a story of friendship that transcended decades and that these days Olympics.com remembers in a remarkable way. This is the story of how a simple gesture, a competition jersey, brought two athletes together and marked the beginning of a relationship that symbolizes Olympic values.
Peter Bos grew up in the United States listening to the echoes of World War II on the radio. For him, as for many children of his generation, Germany was the enemy. On the other side of the Atlantic, Kraft Schepke, four years older than Bos, lived a very different reality: bombs were falling close to his home in Germany, and for him, the enemies were the Allies, including the Americans.
After the end of the war, both young men found in rowing an escape and a passion that would lead them to compete on the sport’s biggest stage: the Olympic Games. Bos began rowing at the U.S. Naval Academy, while Schepke discovered the sport in an abandoned boat near a river in Germany. In 1960, their paths crossed in Rome.
Photo by Peter Bos provided to Olympics.com
Rivalry on the water and an unexpected gesture
In the men’s eight coxed rowing final, the German team, led by Schepke, broke the winning streak of the United States, which had won gold in that discipline since 1920. Germany took the gold, while the Bos team finished fifth. The loss was a crushing blow for the Americans, but what happened after the race marked the beginning of something unexpected.
Schepke approached Bos and offered him his racing jersey as a gesture of respect. Bos, surprised and touched, handed Schepke his training jersey as a sign of gratitude. “It was a gesture that meant a lot to me,” Bos recalled years later. That jersey exchange symbolized the end of an era of American dominance in rowing and the beginning of a connection between two men who, once upon a time, would have been enemies.
A friendship that was reborn decades later
After the Rome Games, Bos and Schepke went their separate ways. Bos served on submarines in the U.S. Navy before going into business, while Schepke worked in government and promoted sport in Germany. For years, both fondly recalled their Olympic experience, but they didn’t have contact again until 2013, when Bos decided to give Schepke back the jersey he had received in Rome.
Bos tracked down Schepke through an email. “Are you the Kraft Schepke who rowed for Germany at the 1960 Games?” he asked. Schepke’s affirmative answer marked the beginning of a new stage in their relationship. Shortly thereafter, Schepke received the jersey in the mail, a gesture that deeply touched the German and his family.
From rivals to teammates
The reunion between Bos and Schepke not only strengthened their friendship, but also led to them rowing together. In 2018, they formed a team to compete in the World Masters Rowing Regatta in Sarasota, Florida. Together with two other rowers, they represented their countries in a uniform bearing the flags of Germany, the United States and Norway, and the motto “friends of world rowing.”
On this occasion, Bos and Schepke were not rivals, but teammates. With a joint effort, they won the race in their category, proving that friendship and teamwork can overcome any barrier. Today, their example is more topical than ever with the existing geopolitical conflicts. Hopefully, their example will serve – as the Paris 2024 Olympic Village did – to raise awareness among governments that the desire for peace and coexistence is present in the population on all sides of a conflict.
